Love Song

~Jordan~

~The Next Day~

That day during lunch, Zakk and I sat cross legged on a bench. We had been going over our German vocab.

"Ok." I said, "Steht auf."

Zakk poked his chin for a second and looked away from me but I could see his gorgeous brown eyes that I couldn't tear away from. He finally looked at me with a cocky grin on his face. "Stand up."

"That's right." I said as I took the last spoonful of my Jell-O pudding and gave him a smile. A big metaly...brace-faced...pudding covered smile...

Zakk took the notebook away from me and grinned evilly at me. "You'll never get this one." he said.

"I doubt it." I said smugly with a smirk.

"Dreht euch um." He said, maintaining his evil grin.

"Turn around." I said with no hesitation. I was about to snatch my notebook away from Zakk when Amy rushed over to us.

"Hey Amy." I greeted.

"I'm not sure how I should react to this but you know how there is going to be some formal to welcome the freshman tomorrow night?" She asked.

I nodded with a groan. I remembered in middle school how the new sixth graders got to go to this dance after school for free. It was the same this year, only we had to wear stupid dresses and suits and all that.

"Well, Peter asked me to go with him. And I said yes." Amy said, looking at me like she wanted me to tell her how to react.

"Oh my god Amy! That's amazing!" I squealed. I grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug, to which she was unable to hug me back.

"Let's go to the mall after school to get you something." I said, realizing that I sounded like Sam, the girly girl of the universe. I laughed at my thought and looked back at Amy.

"Sure." She mumbled with a shrug. She pointed over her shoulder and turned slightly at an angle. "I just wanted to tell you. I'm gonna get back to Peter. We're going to go practice." She turned and walked away, waving good-bye to me as she walked.

I sat back down on the bench across from Zakk, who was lost in thought.

"Earth to Zakk." I laughed, snapping my fingers in his face. He jumped a little and gave me a warm smile.

"Jordan." he mumbled. I cocked my head to the side in confusion.

"I was thinking, since it's the only free dance we'll have until we're seniors, why don't you and me go? You know, as friends?" He asked, picking at his fingernails as he talked.

My heart skipped numerous beats and my face felt hot. My hands shook as I moved my hair out of my face. "That'd be awesome!"

His face lit up when he heard my answer.

"Great." he said.

"Want me to call you tonight to set things up?" I asked. He nodded as the bell rang to go to fifth period.

"Amy wait up!" I called to her after school as I ran towards her. She turned around and stopped, which made me almost run into her.

"Ready to go?" I asked. She narrowed her eyes at me, as if I'd said something crazy.

"Amy, we're going to the mall to get us dresses for that Freshman Welcome Formal thingie." I said.

Amy raised an eyebrow at me. "Us?"

"Yeah. Zakk asked me to go with him. As friends." It killed me when I said the as friends part. Amy shrugged and followed me to my mom's car.

"Mom, can you drive Amy and me to the mall?" I asked, peeking my head through the window. My mom scoffed and looked at Josh, Aria and Tia, as if it was a subtle way of saying it's way to crowded.

"How about Amy goes home and we go home, then I'll drive to Amy's house and pick her up, then take them in my car?" Aria offered. My mom moved her bangs out of her eyes and sighed.

"Whatever. As long as I'm not involved in any way." She said with a faint smile. I scoffed and turned to Amy.

"Get changed and wait, 'kay?" I said. Amy nodded and began walking to the bus stop. I squeezed into the car between Aria and Tia.

"So, Josh. Are you taking Erin?" I asked with a small smirk. Erin was another one of my best friends, who was also a freshman, who as of the end of his freshman year began dating her. I liked to tease both of them about it, not that either of them liked it.

"Yup." He said, ignoring my smirk.

When we finally pulled up to our house, I jumped out of the car to run upstairs and change.

"Hold on Jordan! I haven't changed yet!" I heard Aria call from the garage. I groaned and went downstairs to the living room and jumped onto the couch, causing it to make a large creaking sound.

After Aria finished changing, we got into her car, picked up Amy and drove to the mall.

"We won't be in much. Probably two or three stores at the most." I said as Aria walked with us into the entrance.

"Call me when you're ready to leave. You have money?" She asked, pointing to the ATM machine on the other side of the room. I looked in my bag for money.

"Maybe a little." I murmured. Aria smiled and walked to the ATM and took four twenties. She handed forty dollars for me and for Amy.

"Are you sure you want us taking this much?" I asked, staring at the forty dollars I had in my hands.

"Don't stress so much Jordan, I have plenty. I don't spend much." She said with a smile and shrug.

I nodded and led Amy into a store where they sold dresses especially for events like formals.

"Oh my god Amy look! It's your perfect dress!" I shouted, pointing to a green dress on a rack. I ran to it and plucked it off the rack and handed it to her.

The dress was a gorgeous Hi-Low dress that had a lime green color with a lace up back and beautiful beading.

"Go try it on." I said excitedly. Amy chuckled a little and grabbed the dress. She walked into the dressing room and closed the door and locked it.

I leaned against the wall next to the door waiting for her to open it.

"Do you need help?" I asked.

"No!" I heard her yell defensively. "I'm coming."

She walked out and I must say, she was breath taking.

"Wow Ames. You look really pretty." I said with a smile. Amy walked back into the dressing room, to which I followed because I knew she was only going in to see what she looked like in the full length mirror.

"You think Peter will like it?" she asked in a quiet voice. I stared at her in shock. Since the day I met her, I knew that she didn't care about what people thought of her. She suddenly cared about what Peter thought of her.

"You really like Peter huh?" I said with a warm smile just for her. She blushed, looked away and nodded a little.

"I've seen the way he looks at you. He really likes you. He'll love this dress on you!" I said, wrapping her in a big bear hug.

"Ok...I'll get this one." Amy said quietly as a small smile spread on her face.

"I'll go look around while you pay for it." I said as I walked out back into the store. I moved different dresses out of the way, not interested in any of them. I saw Amy walk towards the cashier and buy her dress.

She walked over to me with a bag hanging on her wrist. "You didn't find anything yet?" She asked. I shook my head and sighed. Amy pulled a black dress out and held it out to me.

"This would look nice on you. The skirt is big but not like...huge." Amy said. I took it from her and walked slowly into the dressing room. I studied it for a second for putting it on.

The dress had spaghetti straps that I wasn't normally into and gorgeous beading that wasn't overdone like most beading was.

I put it on and walked out of the dressing room. Amy sat on a small chair that faced my door. She smiled and gave me a thumbs up. "That's the dress." She said.

I bought the dress and after we went to go buy shoes, we called Aria to meet us at the front door.

When Aria got me home, she followed me up to my room and took out the full outfit. "Oh my god Jordan this is gorgeous. Soooo cute." She cooed. After she said that, my phone rang.

"Hey Zakkie." I giggled. I heard Zakk chuckle when he heard my new nickname for him.

"So I'm gonna come and get you at seven because it starts at seven-thirty." He said.

"Ok. I'll be ready by then." I said with a smile that I was full aware he couldn't see. He just brought out that happiness.

"Did you buy something?" he asked.

"I did. Did you?"

"Mhm." He mumbled.

"Well, I'll see you Saturday then." I said awkwardly.

"Yeah." He said. I snapped my phone shut, wondering if I should've said good-bye first.

Saturday

Aria had me sitting on my desk chair as she did my hair. She did my hair in such a way that I could never really describe it. All I can say is, it was half up and curly. She turned my chair around and studied my face.

"You don't need much make-up. maybe just a little mascara to brighten your eyes more." Aria jogged out of the room and came out with mascara. She lightly applied some and had me blink fifty times. She led me to my mirror and gasped.

"Little sister. You look amazing. I kind of wish it was prom instead of some formal freshman welcome thing." She sighed. I stared at myself. I finally felt that I looked good. I usually felt ugly and tonight I would be able to feel pretty.

I couldn't dwell on that anymore because the doorbell rang. Aria shoved me out the door and down the stairs.

I slowly opened the door to Zakk. He looked amazing. His suit made him look older and...might I say sexy as hell.

"Wow Jordan. You look...wow." he said, smiling.

"Bye Mom!" I called. I ran out with Zakk and we climbed into his dad's car. We rode in silence except for the "how are you?" routine that parents did to get their kid's friend out of the awkward moment...Even though it never worked.

Zakk and I walked in arm-in-arm into the gym. We walked towards where all the food was and grabbed something to drink.

The gym was a big place, but it still smelled stuffy because of all the kids that were inside the gym.

"Jordan!" I heard Amy call. I turned and she looked even better than she did before. Her hair was straightened and put up in a really high ponytail and Peter just had the traditional formal suit, like Zakk.

"Amy you look great!" I squealed as we squeezed each other. Amy looked up at my head and smiled.

"Who did your hair?" She asked. I lightly touched my hair, not wanting to mess it up.

"Aria." I replied happily.

After a couple minutes of hanging out and talking, a slow song began to play. Peter grabbed Amy's hand and pulled her onto the dance floor. Zakk and I stood there, sipping our drink awkwardly.

"Jordan...do you want to dance?" Zakk asked. I set down my drink, smiled and nodded as I grabbed his hand and walked with him onto the dance floor. He put his hands on my waist hesitantly while I put my hands on his shoulders.

We moved so stiffly in a circle as the song dragged on and on.

"Jordan you look really nice tonight." He murmured.

"Thank you. You look really nice too." I said nervously. The song last another minute before it ended. We stayed for another hour before the night was over.

He walked me to my door after another uncomfortable car ride and we stood for a second in silence as we stood outside my door. The summer breeze made me feel warmer than I already was. I had taken out my hair on the car ride home, so the light breeze moved my hair onto my face.

"Thank you for taking me. I had a good time." I laughed. "You know, as friends." I swallowed the lump in my throat, not wanting it to have been a friendly night.

"You're welcome." He said with a smile. I grabbed him and pulled him closer and placed a light kiss on his cheek. Without another word, I opened the front door and walked inside. I leaned against my door, closed my eyes, and sighed.

"Jordan! How was it?!" Aria asked, scaring me.

"Great." I said. I walked upstairs and threw my dress off and onto my bed. I pulled my pajamas on without showering and climbed into my bed. I drifted off to sleep and knew I would dream pleasant dreams.